kickstarter Archives - Page 4 of 23 - Robot 6 @ Comic Book Resources

In 2011, writer Joey Esposito and artist Jonathan Moore kickstartedFootprints, a four-issue, hard-boiled detective comic that followed Bigfoot, the Jersey Devil and other cryptids as they investigated the death of a Yeti. Now the duo has returned to that world — and to Kickstarter — for a one-shot subtitled “Bad Luck Charm.”

“The one-shot features two new tales — one set before the events of Vol. 1 and one set after,” Esposito told ROBOT 6. “The first story, given away for free on the Kickstarter campaign, features the oafish Jersey Devil and Vol. 1’s big bad, Motheresa, heading to 1962 to Las Vegas to try their luck. The second story will catch up with Foot, Nessy, Devil and Choop as they investigate a new cryptid emerging in the swamps of South Carolina, the Lizard Man.”

Esposito provided ROBOT 6 with that first story, which is posted in its entirety below. If you’d like to see the second one (and get your hands on a digital copy of the first Footprints collection, which is included at every reward level above $15), check out the Kickstarter campaign.

Cosplay | The Christian Science Monitor looks at how cosplay is spilling out of comics and sci-fi/fantasy conventions and into “daily life,” such as movie theaters, pubs and public squares: “The spread of cosplay owes a lot to the Internet. Social media sites build buzz around the next big cosplay event. Tumblr and Instagram allow strangers to pass around photos of past work and offer words of encouragement from afar. YouTube videos reveal how to craft foam core into realistic-looking armor and braid hair like an elf.” [The Christian Science Monitor]

When two siblings work together on a comic, it creates a rare interview opportunity. The dynamics of a typical collaboration, with unrelated creators, when successful, means there’s a strong rapport between storytellers. But the link between two brothers, as in the case with Shobo and Shof Coker, means a level of candor and communication that I really wanted to discuss with the creators of Outcasts of Jupiter. Their formative years as children in Lagos, Nigeria, and its impact on their storytelling approach, was another area of interest for me.

Publishing | In the wake of the ban in Saudi Arabia of the animated adaptation of The 99 comic, creator Naif Al-Mutawa writes about what he had to go through in the first place to get approval in that country for the Islamic superheroes (one of the steps was the sale of Cracked magazine at a loss so his company would be sharia-compliant to the satisfaction of an Islamic bank). He looks at what led to the fatwa, and concludes by seeking one of his own, posing questions for the clerics who issued the decree. [The National]

Publishing | As part of its five-year anniversary celebration, Multiversity Comics surveys such industry figures as Eric Stephenson, Rachel Deering, Tom Spurgeon and Gina Gagliano about the biggest changes that have taken place during that time, and where comics are headed. [Multiversity Comics]

He’s written sentient living planets, talking wooden puppets and the Fastest Man Alive, but The Leg: Or, the Remarkable Return of the Disembodied Limb of Santa Anna may feature Van Jensen’s strangest protagonist yet.

Jensen teamed up with artist Jose Pimienta to tell the tale of, yes, the leg of Antonio López de Santa Anna, the famous Mexican general and president who fought for Mexican independence from Spain as well as against Texas rebels at the Alamo. He later lost his leg while fighting the French in the Pastry War.

And now the leg is back, in a graphic novel that Jensen and Pimienta hope to self-publish by raising funds through Kickstarter. They’re looking for $10,000 to bring story to print, while their $25,000 stretch goal would allow them to also release a Spanish-language edition.

I spoke with Jensen about the Kickstarter and his inspiration for this tale.

Well, not that very thing, as A Comic Spot is more like a pop-up comic store than a traditional bookmobile, with tables and chairs designed to create “an outdoor meeting space […] allowing people to connect and share in an engaging dialogue.”

Described as a “sci-fi road trip set during the Summer of Love,” Just Another Sheep follows a timid teen on a quest in the tumultuous 1960s — or, rather, an alternate version of the decade — to discover the origin of his ability to make others experience anything his body has felt before, from pleasure to pain to intoxication.

Kazu Kibuishi has found success in comics by charting his own path, one that took him from creating the Eisner-winning Copper to editing the acclaimed Flight anthologies to finding a home for his Amulet graphic novels at mainstream publisher Scholastic.

With more power comes more problems. Just ask Starpunch Girl, who’s in the middle of a battle to free her enslaved homeworld from the Black Hole Army. And leading that army is Blackhole Boy, a rival who going all the way back to grade school. Creators S.D. Lockhart and Narm started the series as a webcomic, and now they’re turning to Kickstarter to help fund a 90-plus page print edition.

Described by Lockhart as a “full-color cosmic comic creation featuring surrealistic characters and intense action sequences,” Starpunch Girl is looking to raise $1,000 by April 27 to print a book collecting the 18 pages already released online plus more than 75 pages of additional story. As rewards for backers, they’re offering interesting extras including a soundtrack for the series, a custom plush doll, as well as an appearance in an upcoming page of the series.

“We have not agreed to an exclusive distribution deal for this game,” John Wurzer, Diamond’s vice president of purchasing, tells ICv2.com. “We have been having discussions regarding the possibility of a distribution agreement, but none is in place.”

Launched early last month, the Kickstarter campaign was intended to raise $81,100 to produce a licensed standalone sequel to Z-Man Games’ hit 2011 release Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead: The Board Game, based on the bestselling comic series (rather than the television adaptation, like Cryptozoic’s game). But on Saturday, after securing $31,830 in pledges, the creators announced they had struck “an amazing distribution deal with the perfect distribution partner,” and therefore didn’t “feel comfortable continuing to ask for funding money through Kickstarter.”

ICv2 reached out to game designer Keith Tralins, who replied, “I can’t really comment right now, other to say [sic] that discussions are ongoing.”

The creators of The Walking Dead: The Prison board game canceled their Kickstarter campaign over the weekend, announcing they’ve secured an exclusive distribution agreement with Diamond-owned Alliance Game Distributors. The officially licensed game is expected to be solicited this week.

“Given that we now have an amazing distribution deal with the perfect distribution partner, we don’t feel comfortable continuing to ask for funding money through Kickstarter,” the developers said in an update posted Saturday. “As such, in a short while, we’re going to cancel our campaign for the game, and focus all our energies on getting the game to the distribution center as soon as possible.”

Combining his love for horror with a pretty scary event from his own past, writer Jason McNamara (The Martian Confederacy, First Moon, Continuity) has teamed with artist Greg Hinkle (the upcoming Airboy) to tell the story of The Rattler. A campaign to bring their self-published graphic novel to the printed page began this morning on Kickstarter.

According to The Rattler Kickstarter page, “10 years have passed since Stephen Thorn’s fiancée vanished without a trace, and he has grown into a prominent, if bitter, victim’s rights crusader. Despite the cold trail and lack of leads, he stubbornly refuses to give up the search. And then … he begins to hear her voice in the strangest of places.”

I spoke with both McNamara and Hinkle about the project, their favorite horror comics and what “dinner” at the MacNamara house (one of the Kickstarter prizes) consists of (here’s a hint).

This week writer and photojournalist Seth Kushner launched the Kickstarter for Schmuck, his semi-autobio/anthology graphic novel about his quest to find love in New York City. While portions of the collection originally ran online at TripCity.net, even those aspects will be remastered and/or colored for the 168-page trade paperback.

This collection, which features the work of 22 artists, also marks the inaugural release of HANG DAI Editions. The HANG DAI imprint, which was founded in New York City by Gregory Benton, Dean Haspiel, Josh Neufeld and Kushner, focuses on “limited edition comix, graphic novels, and art books, with an emphasis on personal interaction at events, conventions, and signings”.

Comics sales | ICv2 unpacks February’s miserable direct market sales numbers a bit, noting that for the second month in a row just one comic — in this case, Batman #28 — sold more than 100,000 copies, indicating weakness at the top of the list. Since September 2011, when the most recent “growth spurt” began, at least two comics have sold more than 100,000 copies each month; however, that streak ended with the first two months of 2014. One cause of the poor sales may be the unusually cold winter, which meant higher heating bills and thus less disposable income for some folks. ICv2 also has a separate analysis of dollar sales and the charts of the top 300 comics and graphic novels of the month. [ICv2]